John has a interesting post over at Ancient Hebrew Poetry called “A Short Introduction to the Book of Qohelet.” His sensitivity to language and skill at Bible translation are apparent in this nice little post!
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Andrew
Monthly Archives: March 2010
Ride on to Die: Iain M. Duguid on Zechariah 9 and Palm Sunday
In my last post, I noted Iain M. Duguid’s erudite description of the procession of the Messianic king in Zechariah 9. Since, however, the format of Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi in the EP Study Commentary Series devotes a separate section entirely to “application” of text, I thought it beneficial to devote a separate post to Duguid’s application of this passage.
I’ve always noted that the “Triumphal Entry” of our Lord Jesus Christ is quite paradoxical. This paradox is well summed up in the hymn:
Ride on, ride on in majesty, in lowly pomp ride on to die.
Christ does indeed enter Jerusalem as the victor, but he does not come as one who has already achieved this victory, but as one who is about to wage the war that will result in victory. He enters to make peace even though there is still a final battle to fight. Christ enters Jerusalem not to be lifted up in glory, but to be lifted up in shame.
How does this fit with Zechariah’s portrayal of a Messianic king who forgoes an entrance in battle array? Duguid explains:
The coming king is a king of peace for his people: he has come to take away the chariots and war horses, break the battle bow, proclaim peace to the nations and salvation to his own. Yet for their oppressors he would not be a king of peace. Instead, the Lord would appear as the divine Warrior, sounding the bugle to advance against them, shooting his deadly arrows, destroying and pouring out blood in abundance. By destroying their enemies, he will redeem and shepherd his people. (pg. 152)
Indeed, though Zech 9.10 states, “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem,” the Messiah does come for battle: “For I will surely bend Judah as my bow and fill it with Ephraim” (Zech 9.13; Note – translations are Duguid’s). The Messianic entrance does not mean there is smooth sailing ahead.
Duguid does a fine job of tying Zechariah 9 to Palm Sunday:
This passage forms the background to Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The crowds and the disciples saw the coming king and thought that there would be a straightforward road to victory. Jesus knew how that mission would be accomplished, though. On the night before his death, as they sat down to the Passover meal, he said to his disciples, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for may for the forgiveness of sins’ (Matt. 26:28). The blood that would be shed to bring us peace was his blood. The righteous King had to die in place of his unrighteous followers, the Good Shepherd in place of his unfaithful flock, so that God could accomplish his eternal purposes. (pg. 153)
Though one day there will be a triumphal entry, Palm Sunday is not that day. The good news of Easter Sunday will arrive, but Good Friday comes first. Indeed, Easter itself is not the consummation of Christ’s victory. Christ will one day process in victory, welcomed into the city by his saints who will go out to meet him “in the clouds” (1 Thess 4.17) and wave palm branches while crying out: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Rev 7.9-10). Duguid writes:
There is another day coming, when the same King will return – no longer seated on a donkey, but on the white warhorse (Rev. 19:11-16). He will come to smash his enemies once and for all, including the last enemy, death itself. On that day, he will crush all those who oppose him and set all his prisoners of hope free. The king is coming! Blessed indeed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! (pg. 153)
Duguid reminds us of the comfort we can have as we await that day in hope:
In the meantime, as we experience a world of waterless pits and hostile foes, we care called to wait for this return with hope, confident that our King will come in victory to bring about our full salvation and the final establishment of his kingdom in all its glory. (pg. 153)
What more can we say? Amen – come quickly Lord Jesus!
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Andrew
VeggieTales and Wal-Mart
You need to get this book. I posted on it last week; here’s another excellent blurb.
“One particular episode of VeggieTales has Madame Blueberry acquiring so much stuff that her tree house eventually collapses. She has become a slave to her stuff, to the accumulation of things. She has forsaken people, her friends, in the process. She even almost loses herself to consumption – as the collapsing house nearly takes her life. The episode bravely proclaims a counter-consumer-culture message, bravely because ‘Stuff-Mart,’ the almost hypnotically powerful source of all Madame Blueberry’s stuff, functions as a rather obvious symbol of the megaretailer that stocks so much VeggieTales merchandise on its shelves. The creators of the episode were moving dangerously close to biting the hand that feeds them.”
“But, alas, the counter-consumer-culture message gets muddled. After the episode concludes, the credits roll and the theme song reverberates from the speakers, commercials follow for VeggieTales stuff, all forms of the characters, sheets and pillow sets, more DVDs and sing-along CDs. More needless stuff, which can be purchased at a ‘Stuff-Mart’ near you. The prophetic voice of the episode loses a bit of its edge by being, in the end, too enmeshed in the culture against which it protests” (p. 193).
So ironic and humorous I cry and laugh at the same time: the moralism in VeggieTales fights with consumerism, and the former wins by a small margin. Hey, kids, don’t be so greedy and materialistic, but you gotta have this Larry Boy bath towel and the shower curtain to go with it.
shane lems
sunnyside wa
Iain M. Duguid on the Messiah’s “Triumphal Entry” in Zechariah 9
Having just heard a sermon on Palm Sunday for this Holy Week, considering Iain M. Duguid’s exposition of Zechariah 9 in Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi seemed an especially appropriate way to continue my posts reviewing this volume in the EP Study Commentary Series.
In his introduction, Duguid notes the importance of Zechariah for Christian theology with a musing regarding the neglect of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi in Christian preaching and writing:
The last three books of the Old Testament have not always received the attention they deserve from the church. This is in some ways surprising, since the Gospel writers quote Zechariah 9-14 more often than any other biblical source in explaining Christ’s sufferings and death. (pg. 11)
Duguid’s hard work to remedy this situation via this commentary is most welcome.
After surveying the divine judgment that is to come upon Northern Syria, Phoenicia and Philistia (a survey that includes well chosen historical comments allowing non-experts to see the importance of these regions historically and biblically-theologically), Duguid explains the narrative “peak” in the chapter:
This campaign against Israel’s enemies would culminate in the triumphal entry of her ‘king’ to ‘Jerusalem’. (pg. 149)
What is more:
This king is described as ‘righteous’, like the ideal ruler of Psalm 72. Through his personal obedience to the Mosaic covenant, he will ensure God’s blessing on his people, thereby bringing about their ‘salvation’. (pg. 149)
The fact that the coming king comes “humbly” and is “riding a donkey” is often misunderstood. People see the king’s (and Christ’s) entry as marking the utter distinctiveness between the Messianic procession and a typical ancient “kingly” procession (be it Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian or Roman). Yet Duguid makes a refreshingly careful distinction here in noting both the similarity and difference of the Messianic procession:
He is also ‘humble’ and comes riding on ‘a donkey’, the mount of one who comes to bring peace, rather than the standard military mount, a horse. A donkey was not a particularly humble form of transportation in the ancient world: kings and rich people would ride donkeys (see Judg. 12:14), while poor people walked. However, people did not normally ride to war on a donkey. (pg. 149)
Donkey caravans used to travel the ancient trade routes in huge droves, bringing items from afar as part of the international economic network of the ancient Near East. A king riding a donkey would be the equivalent of a modern day leader making a symbolic entrance to a port city standing on the bridge of an oil tanker or container ship. This would be a symbol of economic greatness. Duguid, however, is absolutely right noting how the choice of a donkey fits into an account of war and destruction of enemies:
Through the coming of this king, the Lord will bring an end to Israel’s need for the traditional instruments of war: the ‘chariot’, ‘[war] horse’ and ‘battle bow’. (pg. 149)
Thus the Messanic king does indeed come in royal splendor. His choice of a donkey is not the equivalent of the President of the United States riding in a Smart Car. Yet his arrival as a conqueror is paradoxical. After all, even when the President speaks to soldiers in the field, he usually rides around in a Hum-vee and wears a camouflage coat (obviously as a symbolic gesture of camaraderie). But the Messianic king does indeed come “humbly” (Zech 9.9).
In the next post, we’ll note how Duguid describes the implications of this for Christ’s triumphal entry.
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Andrew
OT Israel History and Literature
”…The purpose of Israel’s literature is theological. It is selective, as all historical writing must be, and it has an agenda. It is not interested in preserving events for history’s sake. Its purpose is to document Yahweh’s action in history and his control of the flow of events. In these documents the nation is more important than the king, and God is the main focus. Israel’s identity and function as Yahweh’s covenant people is the backbone of the entire historical corpus. Thus we could say that whereas the objective of much ancient [Near East] historiography is to offer the desired understanding of the accomplishments of the king, the objective of Israelite historiography is to offer the desired understanding of the accomplishments of God” (p. 210-11).
Taken from the introduction to historical literature in The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament ed. Walton, Matthews, & Chavalas (Downers Grove: IVP, 2000). I’ve really appreciated this commentary – I highly recommend it. Also, I’m pretty sure that educated laypeople would be able to read and enjoy it.
shane lems
sunnyside wa
